About the Kuychi Charity
The Kuychi Charity for the relief and support of extremely deprived children in Urubamba, Peru was created in 2003 to support Heléna van Engelen’s "Niños del Arco Iris" project in Peru.
Heléna van Engelen (1949) changed the course of her life by putting it to the service of the forgotten children of Peru. She went to Urubamba at the end of 2001 to build a centre in the Valley of the Saints near Cusco where deprived children from the surrounding communities can live and learn. The central point of her mission is to give these children a home and a future.
The name of the project and of the Charity refers to the Rainbow: "Arco Iris" in Spanish and "Kuychi" in Quechua, the ancient Indian language still spoken in the Andes.
The project focuses on offering a future to extremely deprived children who are exposed to many risks as a result of great poverty. This poverty leads to alcoholism (industrial alcohol) and broken families. Add to this the lack of hygiene, medical care, food, schooling and, above all, love, and you have the causes of the terrible predicament of Peruvian children and young people.
The project tries to help because "Every child has the right to have a childhood" - through offering a total program to children, their parents and other members of the community in and around Urubamba.
The project offers:
- A home to 17 (ex-street) children
- The Day Centre offers a warm meal, medical care and an educational program to about 100 deprived children. Their parents are involved as much as possible in these activities.
- Access for all to the doctor and dentist who have located their practices at the centre. Psychosocial guidance is also offered.
- Occupational Education Centre (CEO). Since March 2005 there is also a CEO for about 80 young people aged between 15 and 25, approved by the Peruvian government. The boys qualify through a credits system for diplomas in English, or to be a qualified carpenter or electrician. For the girls there is clothing manufacture.
- Cetpro. Since February 2008 we have a new schooling system called Cetpro. It teaches the young people to a higher level than Occupational Education Centre. The education takes two years instead of one and a half.
- A yearly meeting. Each year, we organize a meeting in The Netherlands in such a way that Heléna can also attend. That allows us to update all benefactors, volunteers and interested parties on the ups and downs of the children and on the progress of the project.